[release]Foreign Minister Kevid Rudd has announced his resignation at a press conference in Washington DC at 1.20am local time, 5.20pm AEDT.Mr Rudd he believed he no longer had the support of the Prime Minister, Julia Gillard and had no option but to resign.He called the leadership brawl a "soap opera" and said he would not have "anything to do with it".

After midnight ... Kevin Rudd to address the media in Washington DC.

A move against Kevin Rudd next week is almost certain with Prime Minister Julia Gillard determined to resolve the leadership crisis when parliament resumes.With the backing of her senior cabinet ministers, Ms Gillard is poised either to sack Mr Rudd from the ministry or hold a leadership ballot to expose his lack of support.Senior sources stressed that no decision had been made but, said one: "There's movement at the station."

Winging it ... Julia Gillard at the BAE systems factory in Adelaide today. Photo: David Mariuz

One backer of a ballot said there was a growing feeling that Ms Gillard would take on Mr Rudd in a leadership spill next week and "not only win, but win bloody decisively".The Sydney Morning Herald revealed today that Ms Gillard was reserving the option of calling a leadership ballot next week but that she will bring it on only from a position of strength to resolve the crisis consuming her government.A senior source reported that "it is still very much an option to bring it on ... No decision has been made. It's a discussion that needs to be had."Industry and Climate Change Minister Greg Combet fuelled speculation that the leadership battle needed to come to a head.Mr Combet told the National Press Club in Canberra that he was "frustrated" that the speculation over a leadership bid by Mr Rudd was continuing."Enough is enough. It is time this matter is resolved," he said."It is a distraction to the work of government."He said he was a "strong supporter" of Ms Gillard."This issue needs to be resolved and it needs to be resolved in the near future," Mr Combet said.The way in which it was resolved was "a judgment for the Prime Minister to make".Another senior Gillard backer said Ms Gillard and Mr Rudd could no longer work together "in any capacity"."The facts are that Kevin can't stay in cabinet and Julia needs to take him on in front of the caucus," the source said. "If he doesn't throw his hat in, then he will be dumped anyway."The Gillard camp is confident that it retains the numbers to win convincingly over Mr Rudd in a ballot, with the Foreign Minister thought to have about 30 votes in the 103-strong caucus.Mr Rudd - who is to deliver a speech in Washington, DC, on Wednesday - said that he was not challenging for the leadership and expected to remain Foreign Minister."Can I just say, as I've said many times before, that we have a Prime Minister; I support the Prime Minister; and I intend to remain as Foreign Minister," Mr Rudd said in response to questions about a leadership spill.

It's situations like this that make me wonder how an American style system would work out.

Instead of just having MPs vote who runs the party, any registered member of the party should have a say in it. Maybe then they wouldn't be so trigger happy to replace the leader once their internal opinion polls pass a certain level.

Not surprised, seems like no one in the labor party liked him anyway. Wanted to have everything his own way and whatnot. He's also a bit hypocritical in that he leaked shit to the press to undermine Gillard and the labor party in general.

All this shit is depressing, they can't leave Kevin alone, you can tell how much of a cunt Julia Gillard is.

Anyway, at the end of the day, we DID vote for fucking Kevin Rudd and not that red head skank.

The only people who voted for Rudd are the people of Griffith, as Rudd stands as a representative for the people of Griffith, but also at a point in time was recognised as the leader of the Labor party, hence how he became prime minister.

You didn't vote for Rudd, you voted for Labor representatives and if at least half of the house was made up of Labor preresentatives the prime minister would be a Labor representative. If you ignored what your Labor representative stood for and voted for him or her anyways just so you could hope to get the prime minister to be one from your favourite party, then either you're an idiot or you just don't give a shit about how your local representative would affect your local area.

The only people who voted for Rudd are the people of Griffith, as Rudd stands as a representative for the people of Griffith, but also at a point in time was recognised as the leader of the Labor party, hence how he became prime minister.

You didn't vote for Rudd, you voted for Labor representatives and if at least half of the house was made up of Labor preresentatives the prime minister would be a Labor representative. If you ignored what your Labor representative stood for and voted for him or her anyways just so you could hope to get the prime minister to be one from your favourite party, then either you're an idiot or you just don't give a shit about how your local representative would affect your local area.

There's no doubt Rudd will contest the leadership, the fighting between the various factions in the Labour party had definitely left Rudd with more than a few supporters, especially the ones who lost faith in Gillard in last few months.

Whatever the turnout is, the Liberal Party is going to have a fucking field day with this, yet another move to knock Labour to it's knees. Not to mention Blight is about to lose Queensland so that makes it worse.

I wish the public could be the deciding factor on who actually runs the leading party. I'd happily re-elect a Ruddy Labour party over Abbott. But seeing that Julia's currently the only ALP option, I'd vote Abbott (despite thinking he's a complete douche).

I wish the public could be the deciding factor on who actually runs the leading party. I'd happily re-elect a Ruddy Labour party over Abbott. But seeing that Julia's currently the only ALP option, I'd vote Abbott (despite thinking he's a complete douche).

In my opinion, it's better to vote for the party than the candidate, even if you don't like Gillard as a person, if you align yourself more towards Labour, why not vote for them?

The problem is happening in the US in the moment with people unsatisfied with Obama so they jump ship and run right for Ron Paul.

I wish the public could be the deciding factor on who actually runs the leading party. I'd happily re-elect a Ruddy Labour party over Abbott. But seeing that Julia's currently the only ALP option, I'd vote Abbott (despite thinking he's a complete douche).

Never, ever vote for Liberal party. Their agenda is to rip up the NBN and bring in a useless wireless internet infrastructure.
Not to mention the overly bad policies they have. Don't vote because you like the guy, vote for the policies and what effects you in a positive way.

Never, ever vote for Liberal party. Their agenda is to rip up the NBN and bring in a useless wireless internet infrastructure.
Not to mention the overly bad policies they have. Don't vote because you like the guy, vote for the policies and what effects you in a positive way.

I think by the time the next election comes along, the NBN will be in full swing and it would be a waste of time if the Liberals won and they were to pull it all out. It's safe as long as it gets up and running by 2014.

Never, ever vote for Liberal party. Their agenda is to rip up the NBN and bring in a useless wireless internet infrastructure.
Not to mention the overly bad policies they have. Don't vote because you like the guy, vote for the policies and what effects you in a positive way.

actually Turnbull's telecom solution is FttN (with coaxial cable the last mile for urban areas) rather than optical fiber to the home, set up by the private industry

I think by the time the next election comes along, the NBN will be in full swing and it would be a waste of time if the Liberals won and they were to pull it all out. It's safe as long as it gets up and running by 2014.

...
actually Turnbull's telecom solution is FttN (with coaxial cable the last mile for urban areas) rather than optical fiber to the home, set up by the private industry

or at least that's all he's letting on in his vague description
...

That's so much better than Abbott's "4G Wireless!" solution (In that it'd actually work), but cable has it's own drawbacks (Like it needing terminators, if your neighbour unplugs his modem it can affect your connection)

And it raises the same issues that the Libs were complaining about in the first place (You need somebody to come onto your property to install it)

Clever move on Rudd's part. He made his resignation so similar to the way he was offed as prime minister in the first place that it will remind people of the way he was backstabbed by his deputy, so now he can go to the backbenches and his support base will grow exponentially both publically and in the party, and all he has to do is sit back and relax. Not the last we've heard from him.

I think the best thing I saw about this was a text in the news that said that the good thing about all this is it proves that Australia hardly needs a government to run, because lets face it, they haven't done shit in months. The Australian political system is closer to a soap opera / reality show than it is to a coherent form of government.